The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY'S, 1908. THE SUPREMACY OF THE SEA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 113, 5 February 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY'S, 1908. THE SUPREMACY OF THE SEA.

It is impossible to disguise the ultimate ' purpose of .Germany's; grandiose naval schemes'. The most' ■ ardent and

blinded Teutopliile,can no longer misinterpret: the tru-i objective of- the already -.formidablo Germany .navy which, launched- during the South-

African war .'on-a'sea of Anglophobia,' has become tlie most'important and initeresting object in ;,tW whole", comjass. of European politics. The third enormous naval Budget since 1900 .'provides'for the construction oif sixteeii. German Dreadnoughts, to be built within six years. The preponderance of battleships, oyer cruisers, in "the new programme is significant, and that, they are not intended for distant operai tions is obvious \by their relatively small coal-carrying, capacity.' Not only is tho most diligent attention paid to the personnel and material of this gigantic .fleet with a view to its efficiency in war, but it is adapted to the exigencies of a strategy and plan of.'cdm-" paign as thorough as 'that conceived by Voil Moltke for the invasion of ; France in 1870. Assuming Great Britain ' to be the sole objective of Germany's naval preparations—and any' other hypothesis is unthinkable—the latter's' chance', of success 1 will lie in' overwhelming: victory, -in • one'.- decisive engagement. 1 The German littoral is: of little strategical account; it fur-, nishes few safe retreats for a harassed and broken' fleet; ,shallow, treacherous shoals and intricate water-ways, dangerous ! even to mercantile navigation, represent,the whole of the small fragment of the North Sea-coast. A serious and initial naval defeat for Germany, therefore, means disaster. . The hard .times and industrial depression now threatening Germany will not allow herto hazard the exhaustion of her finances on a speculation that does not give promise of rich returns. The Navy League, with its 300,000 members, abetted by the Kaiser's flamboyant 'Speeches as supreme war-lord, is indefatigible in exploiting the' idea of a world-wide empire, and the German people as'a whole look to the. realisation of this magnificent dream with impatience.. The now undisputed hegemony of Japan'in the Far East Ms effectively sealed Germany's aspirations in that quarter; the Monroe Doctrine is not likely to be seriously challenged; Russia, as a sea-power, has temporarily ceased to.be. Great Britain is, therefore, tho mark of ; Germany's ambitious schemes, and upon the WTpckage of the British Empire the Kaiser expects to build up a magnificent and far-reaching Hohenzollern federation. It behoves , the British Government to accept facts and to watch with cautious concentrated attention the trend of German naval ambitions and the growth of German seapower, and to-day's cable messages show that the Government is alive to the situation. •

Notwithstanding the beatific platitudes recently exchanged at The Hague Conference by the foremost diplomatists of the world, and despite the fact that light-hearted sentimental apostles of jjeace are spreading far and wide stones of the movement of the peoples

of the world towards an era of general disarmament, we find that the expendi l ture on the French, German, llussian, Italian, and the United States fleets increased by no less.thau £24,345,691 within the last seveu years, the most rapid increase among European navies being that of Germany. Keeping pace with the growth of the navy is the tremendous energy expended in the deepening of waterways, extension 6f docks, enlargement of workshops, arriibuf factories, and gun-wdrks, and a complete reconstruction (of the Kiel Canal, the last-named representing an outlay of eleven millions sterling. The financing of these prodigious schemes of. naval .aggrandisement is, a tfork of consummate shrewdness. A largo percentage of the money lias been raised by means of loans, arid; although year by year the burden of naval debt grows, 'tlie bills are postdated, thus relieving immediate pressure tipon an already over-burdened people, and' relegating a heavy share of the expense to the unborn millions of futurity . who, if. is speciously argued, will reap'the harvest which t.l}e fleet is fo secure. Qle economic conditions engendered by the rapidly increasing population of Germany furnish the raison-d'etre 6f the new navy. A colonial policy, daring and aggressive, is hijw -a sterii necessity, and fresh markets for their industrial prodii6ts ino less so. Again and again has the Kaiser actively , opposed emigration outside the flag; the absorption by Brazil of' 300,000 sturdy and patriotic Teutons is gall and wormwood to the Imperial mind, and the Emperor

•has persuaded his people that under his leadership, by diplomacy or force of arms, a land of promise may bo acquired where they will find wealth aiid happiness under the widespread wings of the Imperial eagle. Great jsri* tain is face to 'face with a situa-

tion threatening her supremacy. The news to-day of the intention cif the Government to make substantial increases in the naval estimates of 1908 and 1909 will be welcomed by All wild have studied the developinerit of Germany's naval prbgramriie. Careful, thorough, statesmanlike preparation is essential, and a. ftill recognition of the dictum that " eternal vigilance is tlib price of peace."